Spring Ahead!
- 7 days ago
- 3 min read
Good morning! This is your friendly reminder to turn your clocks ahead this coming Sunday March 8th at 0200 hours (2AM). That is unless you live in much of Arizona (Yes, talking to you, Bobby and Cindy) or Hawaii, because these states don't follow Daylight Savings Time.
For those interested in a little history, Daylight Savings Time was first introduced in Port Arthur, Ontario Canada on July 1, 1908. As time went on, other locations in Canada followed suit. Germany and Austria became the first COUNTRIES to go fully into DST in 1916. This was two years into World War I and the rationale was to minimize the use of artificial lighting to save fuel for the war effort. Within a few weeks, the United Kingdom, France and many other countries followed suit. They stopped it after the war but started up again in WWII.
The British got the idea from a scientist in New Zealand named George Vernon Hudson. The original idea was a Two-hour shift, but it never caught on. The idea was resurrected in 1905, and British Parliament introduced the idea into bill in 1909 but the farmers in the area opposed it and it died in committee.
Ben Franklin once joked that Parisians could economize their candle usage by getting people out of bed earlier in the morning and the idea caught momentum when he penned a letter to the editor of the Journal of Paris entitled, "An Economic Project for Diminishing the Cost of Light"
A few items to note about Daylight Savings Time:
Changing the clock forward and back can cause health problems - changing the clock doesn't create extra daylight; it simply shifts the time of sunrise and sunset. This time change can cause disruptions to our circadian rhythm and disrupts our body clock.
A Swedish study found the risk of heart attacks increase the first three workdays following changing to DST in the spring.
Statistically, there is an increase in traffic accidents the first Monday after the start of DST attributed to tiredness.
There is an increase in workplace injuries on the Monday after DST starts.
The start of DST has been linked to miscarriages for in vitro fertilization patients.
A Danish study found an 11% increase in depression cases after the time change.
An Australian study found that male suicide rates increase the days after time changes.
The Debate question - Does moving the clocks forward or back an hour really have benefits?
PROS:
Proponents of DST argue that the longer evenings motivate people to get out of the house, promoting exercise.
The tourist industry profits from brighter evenings. Shopping, dining, going to events boosts the local economy.
Less artificial light is needed.
Improved road safety by a reduction pedestrian fatalities.
CONS:
It doesn't really save energy. With all our computers, TV screens and air conditioning, it doesn't matter if the sun is up or down. The savings is negligible.
The increase in illnesses as outlined above.
There is an extra cost in building DST support into our computer systems and maintaining them.
There is a time requirement for changing clocks that don't change on their own.
The current administration is considering doing away with Daylight Savings Time altogether due to inconvenience and cost to our nation. But for every state that wants to do away with Daylight Savings Time, there seems to be a strong contingency of people who want to permanent STANDARD time or to stick with EITHER daylight savings time or permanent standard time year-round:
No matter which way the nation goes, for now, change your clocks on Sunday and get some rest!
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